KABUL/WASHINGTON (REUTERS) — Trapped fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden faced a surrender-or-die ultimatum Thursday from U.S.-backed Afghan tribal foes besieging them in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan.
The whereabouts of bin Laden himself and Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar remained a mystery.
Conflicting newspaper reports, based on interviews with top bin Laden aides, said the militant had either fled to neighboring Pakistan or remained in the Tora Bora mountains where his forces were holed up.
Surrender talks between unidentified members of bin Laden’s al Qaeda forces and tribal military leaders Hazrat Ali and Haji Mohammad Zaman came to nothing Wednesday.
CNN quoted Hazrat Ali as saying his fighters would resume their assault unless al Qaeda agreed to hand over bin Laden and his 20 top aides in return for free passage for foot soldiers.
The deadline was Thursday afternoon.
The Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said a six-man shura, or council, of officials from the eastern province of Nangarhar had been sent to try again to persuade the al Qaeda to give up.
U.S. jets bombed al Qaeda positions during Wednesday’s surrender talks as a reminder of the fate that awaited them unless they laid down their weapons.
With a final push against bin Laden’s forces likely, U.N. Security Council members struggled with a resolution that would authorize a multinational peacekeeping force aimed at maintaining the peace in faction-ridden Afghanistan.
In a race against time, Britain, which will lead the force, is scrambling to get a contingent of troops from mainly NATO nations into Afghanistan by Dec. 22, when the new interim government is to take office.
But the key stumbling block was how the operation would be coordinated with the U.S. military, diplomats said.
FIGHTING OR FLEEING?
In Washington, officials said President Bush was likely to set a Thursday release for what was described as a “smoking gun” tape linking bin Laden to the Sept. 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,200 people in the United States.
Newspaper reports added to the confusion over the whereabouts of bin Laden, who has a $25 million price on his head.
The Christian Science Monitor, quoting a Saudi financier and senior operative in bin Laden’s al Qaeda network, reported the militant left his besieged Tora Bora base in Afghanistan and entered Pakistan 10 days ago with the help of Ghilzi tribesmen.
An Arabic magazine quoted another top bin Laden aide as saying he was still in Afghanistan directing the battle against U.S. forces and their tribal allies.
The London-based al-Majallah magazine quoted Ayman al-Zawahri, a senior member of al Qaeda, as saying he and other al Qaeda leaders including bin Laden, Sulaiman bu Ghaith and Abu Hafs, were still fighting in Afghanistan.
Washington was skeptical about the report that bin Laden had left Afghanistan.
On the diplomatic front, German defense minister Rudolf Scharping said any multinational force for Afghanistan should number at least 8,000 peacekeepers and be well-armed.
But many details about the force have yet to be fixed and only a small number of troops are expected to be on the ground by the Dec. 22 transfer of power.
The Security Council resolution, originally expected to be adopted Friday, may not be voted on until Saturday or the following week until Britain and others are satisfied that arrangements are in place.